Note-sheet-control mechanism.



W. A. WATSONl NOTE SHEET CONTROL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED .IAN-B. 1915.

Patented Jan. 7,1919.

2 SHEETS--SHEETI 1 Juventa-2. willial @Maison W. A. WATSON.

N'OTE SHEET CONTROL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION man 1AN.8,1915.

1,290,437. Patented .1511.731913` 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

, Il /avs .n la." runs au. mm 'numana'. a. x;

'invention consists WILLIAM A. WATSON, OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

v NorE-sHEET-CONTROL MEcrraNIsIvI.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 7, 1919.

Application mea January s, 1915. sel-iai No. 1,224.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. WATSON, of Malden, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Note- Sheet-Control Mechanisms, of which the fol.-

lowing is 'a specication.

'of the note sheet.

With this and Jr'urtherv objects in view, my in the improvements which I shall now proceed to describe and claim. f

Of the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference characters designate similar parts or features Figure 1 is a front elevation of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 vis an elevation from the right of Fig. 1, on a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is a detail section hereinafter reterred to. Fig. 5 is a detail plan view of the tracker bar. Fig. 6 is la detail end view of the tracker bar.

The end walls 12, 13 of the tracker bar or spool box support the tracker bar 39, the

take-up spool 15 and the-record spool 16.

The latter is, of course, as usual, removable. 1When in place, and re-iwinding is being per formed, it is driven by its chuck spindle 17. During playing, the transmission gearing is in such a shifted position that the spindle 17 V is disconnected from the motor, but the spindle must still rotate with the spool 16 as the music sheet is drawn from it over the tracker bar, onto the take-up spool, owing to the chuck 1S fitting the usual slot recess in one end of the spool.

Secured to the spindle 17l is a brake wheel 19 having a smooth periphery. Adjacent to the wheel. 19, and mounted loosely on a sleeve of wheel 19, is a disk 20 having a pinion 21 fast therewith. To the disk, at substantially dia-metrically opposite points, are pivotally connected. two arms 24, 25, having weighted outer portions 26, 27. and inwardly to. constitute brake shoes to act on wheel 19,

to retard unwinding from the record spool. A pin 30 projects from the fixed upright 13 into a slot 31 formed in the disk 20.

Meshing with the pinion 21 is a toothed member illustrated as a gear wheel 32 carried by a rock shaft 33 mounted in the uprights 12, 13, said shaft having a finger 34 to bear against the surface of the record roll. For the best results, it is desirable not only that-the longitudinal movement of the'note sheet over the tracker bar shall be steady and under the full control of the motor, but also that its lateral position relatively to the suction holes in the tracker bar shall be under control. I will now proceed to describe my In the embodiment of my invention illus-4 trated'in Figs. '1, 5 and 6, the tracker bar comprises a fixed member 39 and a slidingly .adjustable member 40. The member 40 has holes 41 of the usual kind in tracker bars to coperate ,with the speaking or note selecting holes or slots of a note sheet 42 (Fig. 1) in the well-understood manner, said holes 41 communicating by means of tubes 43 with the valve mechanisms for controlling the hammers of the piano action (not necessary to illustrate herein). The member 40 has at one end an internally threaded lug 44 in which a screw 45 fits. The screw is mounted to rotate (without longitudinal movement) in bearings provided in lugs 46,47, projecting rearwardly from one end of member 39, said screw having a milled wheel 48, hereinafter referred to as the adjuster since by means of it the lperformer may manually effect a change of position of the member 40.

V'tracker bar.

fixed position relatively to the spool box by suitable means, such as by lscrews passed through the walls 12, 13, into the ends of said member.

As sho-wn in Fig. 1, the note sheet has, near each margin, holes 49, which coperate with holes 50 in the fixed member 39 of the These holes 50 communicate through suitable tubes with certain mechanical devices of the player mechanism to control. expression, such as the choker-bellows or by-pass, or the hammer rail actions of a piano player. If desired, there may be more than one hole'50 at each end of member 39, to control a greater number of expression or mechanical devices of the instrument.

The member 39 has another hole 51mm,- municating thro-ugh a tube 52. with the 'mechanism for actuating the sustaining pedal which is another mechanical or expression device of the instrument not necessary to illustrate herein.

. Since the member 39 is in :lined position `relatively to the spool box, it will now be understood that all holes or ducts which relate to the mechanical or expression devices of the instrument, always remain atI a given distance from the wall or walls of the box, and are not affected by changes in position of the member 40 which has the speaking7 holes, when transposition is desired, or when adjustments are made for any other purpose.

The holes 50, 51, as shown in Fig. 5, ex-

' tend through a rearward extension or block 53, integral with or rigidly secured to, the left-hand end of the member 39, said block having a slot or recess 54 in which is pivotally mounted a lever which is hereinafter referred to as the paper'yguide finger 55. As will be seen, this finger also is never affected by anyr change of position of the tracking holes 41. The inner end of this finger is formed as a valve 56 coacting with the inner end of a tube 57, said linger being normally held by a spring 58 in posi.- tion to close the mouth of tube 57. The tube 57 (see Fig. 1) communicates with the interior of a pneumatic 59, the fixed side of which is secured by suitable means such as stays 60 projecting rigidly from wall 12. Al tube 61 connects the interior of the pneumatic 59 with the suction mechanism of the instrument so as to have a constant tendency to collapse the pneumatic, the movable wall of which is connected by a light link 62 with an arm 63 of a vertical rock shaft 64 (Figs. land 2), the latter having short arms 65, 66, which overlap the projecting yends of the spindles of the record and takeup spools. These spools are normally held toward the right by springs 67 in their lefthand bearings, but during playing, the collapsed or partially collapsed pneumatic 59 exerts a pull on link 62 so that the short always travels.

arms of the rock shaft hold the spools shifted somewhat to the left, against the action of springs 67.. If now the note sheet tends to travel out of proper position so that its left-hand edge acts on guide finger 55 to open valve 56, the admission of air through tube 57 results in the expansion of the pneumatic so that the springs 67 can shift the spools suiiciently to the right to restore the correctness of tracking.

Among the advantages of my improvements, l will mention the following:

Reliably steady and uniform travel of the note sheet not only enables large rolls to be used successfully but also causes the perforations of the note sheet that are intended to control the mechanicalv devices to perform their functions properly regardless of` trol the mechanical or expression devices are never changed in position. ing or guide finger, being never changed as to its location, insures a dependable and fixed line along' which one edge of the paper If the paper, due to atmos- This 'is because the tracker bar holes which 'con- The trackf plieric conditions, swells or shrinksA so that the treble notes are not properly controlled, the performer can adjust member 40 the necessary degree without adecting operations of the guide finger. And the performer can be certain that no change will occur in the adjustment effected.

The sliding member 40 can be shifted, and it will remain where adjusted. Consequently, proper tracking of the note perforations can be reliably effected by the per-r' former. It is also up to the performer to secure transposing, or to insure proper average spanning of the marginal note holes if the paper shrinks or swells. Furthermore, if the owner or other person wishes to leave a note sheet in place but render playing by a stranger impossible, he need only operate the adjuster 48 sufiiciently to cause the sheet holes to overlap two tracking holes 41.

This will permit the admission of insufficient air to any of the holes 41 to result in the operation of any action hammers.

There are sometimes conditions which cause the performer'to wish to vary the apparent size of the note holes in the tracker bar as, for instance, if the usual ventholes or bleeds of the pneumatics of the instrument get partially clogged by dust which renders it desirable to correspondingly restrict the tracker holes. by slightly moving the slide 40 (not sulficiently to cause transposing) and still permit the'tracker holes to accurately perform their functions. The note tracker holes are then certain to remain in the lateral. positions to which they have been adjusted, and

This can'be done still no' change has been made in the positions of the expression or mechanical holes or the guide finger'.

In brief, the slide 40 and its adjuster 48 enables transposition of the piece to be effected without affecting the operation or function of the guide or tracking finger, the sustaining lever hole, or other expression holes. And if thepaper isshrunken, or over size, the error can be cured by averagingthe relative spacing of 'the sheet holes and the note tracking holes.

It is to be understood that during rewinding, which is rapid, the note sheet leaves the finger 55 and is not worn or curled by contact therewith. This is because the pneumatic 59 is not collapsed during re-winding and consequently the spools are shifted by their bearing springs 67 sufficiently to remove the edge of the sheet from the finger, the latter remaining in its fixed location. As the power for collapsing the pneumatic 59 is derived from the pneumatic chest or stack, no specially designed devices for cutting ofi' the suction from the pneumatic 59 during re-winding are necessary. Such cutting off of the suction may be effected by the usual cutting out devices of the wind chest when re-winding. Therefore, it is unnecessary to illustrate or describe such devices herein.

It will be understood that if for any reason the tracking mechanism controlled by the finger 55 fails to work properly, correction as to the relationship of the note sheet holes and the holes 41 of member 40 can be brought about by use of the regulator or adjuster 48.

I do not claim herein, nor fully describe the operation of, the brake members 26,27 as the same forms the subject matter of a divisional application filed June 7, 1915, Ser. No. 32547.

I-Iaving now described my invention what,

I claim is:

1. A tracker mechanism for automatic musical instruments comprising a spool box, and a tracker bar comprising two members one of which is fixed and provided with a slot, the other member being adjustable in said slot, said members carrying all the parts for effecting their relative adjustment, whereby the entire two-member tracker bar may be removed as a unit without affecting the adjustment of its two members.

2. A tracker mechanism for automatic musical instruments comprising a spool box., and a tracker bar comprising two members one of which is fixed and the other adjustable relatively to the side of the spool box, the adjustable member having the holes for cooperating with the note-selecting apertures of the record, and the fixed member having holes for coperating with other apertures of the record to control mechanical portions ofthe instrument, said members carrying all the parts for effecting their relative adjustments whereby the entire two-member tracker bar may be removed as a unit without affecting the adjustment of its two members.

3. A tracker mechanism for automatic musical instruments comprising a spool box, a tracker bar comprising one member fixedly 'connected with the spool box and another member slidingly connected with the fixed member, and means for adjusting the sliding member, said means being entirely carried by the two members of the tracker bar.

4. A tracker mechanism for automatic musical instruments comprising a spool box, a tracker bar comprising one member fixedly connected with'the spool box and another member slidingly connected with the fixed member, means for adjusting the sliding member, said adjustin means comprisin a screw directly mounte on one of the trac er bar members to rotate but not move longitudinally thereof, said screw engaging an internally threaded member directly carried by the other tracker bar member.

5. In a mechanical-musical instrument, a tracker bar comprising two members one of which is fixed and the other adjustable relatively to the side of the spool box, said members carrying all the parts for effecting their relative adjustment, one of said members having a duct for the passage of air to control mechanism Jfor effecting the relative lateral position of the tracker bar and note sheet, and a laterally yieldable member carried by and projecting from the tracker bar, said member having means for controlling the relative positions of the note sheetl and tracker bar, the entire structure being removable as a unit without affecting the adjustment of the two members or the position of said laterally yieldable member.

6. In a mechanical musical instrument, a tracker bar comprising two members one of which is fixed and the other adjustable relatively to the side of the spool box, said members carrying all the parts for effecting their relative adjustment, one of said members having a duct for the passage of air to control mechanism for effecting the relative lateral position of the tracker bar and note sheet, and a laterally yieldable member carried by and projecting from the tracker bar, said member having means for coperating with the said ductto control the admission of'air to the latter, the entire structure bein removable as a unit without affectingthe adjustment of the two members or the position of said laterally yieldable member.

7. A tracker mechanism for automat-ic musical instruments comprising a spool box, and a. tracker bar comprising two members one of which is xed and the other adjustof the record to control the lateral position 10 able relatively to the side of the spool box, of the record. the adjustable member having the `holes for In testimony whereof I have aixed my coperating With the note-seiiecting apersignature, in presence of two Witnesses.

5 tures of the record and the Xed member having holes for coiperating with other ap- WILLIAM A' WATSON' ertures of the record to control meehanical Witnesses: portions of the instrument, said xed mem- A. W. HARRISON, ber having a finger to be engaged by the edge GEO. N. 'GODDARu Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

